The alleged role of employees of private hospitals where illegal renal transplants were carried out have now come to light, with the Magadi police arresting a transplant coordinator with a leading private hospital in the city for being involved in the racket.
The Magadi police on Friday arrested Syed Wajahatullah (29), who works as a transplant coordinator with Fortis Hospital, Seshadripuram.
H.L. Nandeesh, inspector of police, Magadi probing the case, said: “Our probe has revealed that at least six illegal renal transplants using forged documents were carried out at the hospital during 2013-15, through the gang of touts we had arrested earlier.”
Worse still, Magadi police said the arrest of Wajahatullah may just be a first in a series of arrests of employees of private hospitals, involved in the racket. Police sources said the Call Detail Records (CDR) of the arrested touts revealed that they were in touch with various transplant co-ordinators and other employees of private hospitals, where they arranged for illegal transplants. Wajahatullah was one of them, police sources claimed. Police claim to have unearthed the involvement of other employees of reputed private hospitals in Mysuru and Bengaluru, where illegal renal transplants were allegedly carried out. The interrogation of the arrested touts also allegedly revealed that one Vinod, a member of the State-level authorisation committee for organ transplants, was involved in the ring and got the cases with forged documents cleared. Magadi police recently arrested Vinod, who is now out on bail.
Meanwhile, Fortis Hospital, Seshadripuram, in a statement said, “As part of the investigation and being a responsible and a reputed institution, we are obliging the law and extending our support to the authorities.”
